Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Pre-race vet checks
Taxidermy. It's really really popular here. People even taxidermy their winning sled dogs. Kind of odd, from my perspective. It's not my thing, taxidermy.
Today was my first hands on day here. We did pre-race vet checks on about half the teams (the other half had theirs done by local vets in the last couple weeks). The dogs were surprisingly "handleable"- really nice dogs that were obviously well-socialized. They were also remarkably skinny. Not shocking but based on the literature I had received, I had expected them to have a little more reserve on this end of the race. For those vet types out there reading this, most were 3/9. My friend and colleague, Dave Roos would think they are perfect. Which I guess they are, for what they need to do. Another thing about the dogs - very few of them were Siberian huskies or malamutes. Most but definitely not all look like they have some husky or other sled breed in them, but as a rather minor component in many cases. The purebred huskies are referred to by certain insiders as "slow-berians" because they are, well, slow. The fastest dogs are mash of husky, shepherd, pointer, and other breeds.. Basically, they look like a dog you would adopt from the pound. Another point for hybrid vigor!
Monday, February 25, 2013
Feeling nervous but not frantic. Feeling very appreciative of this opportunity (see my Fb page for Oscar-style thank yous). Feeling glad that my backpack weighs less than 40 lbs -my luggage weight limit for the little planes I'm supposed to be flying on once in Alaska. Hmmm, I never did get that prescription for Ativan....
Sunday, February 24, 2013
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